Looking at: The Metro Series

From Russia with fire

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I've always had a certain affinity for games from the former Soviet Bloc. Games from Russia, Ukraine, and other Soviet countries have a certain feel and look to them that's impossible for the West to replicate. Theses are games that come from dark places, where decades of strife and darkness have shaped the social and political landscapes of generations. There's a certain bleakness to theses games, and few series encapsulate this as well as the Metro series.

Based on the novels by Russian writer Dmitry Glukhovksy, the Metro series takes place twenty years after a nuclear war has rendered Earth a nuclear wasteland. The games are centered around the Moscow Metro system in the Russian capital which served as fallout shelters for the residents of the dead city. There's little hope left in the metro, as factions battle for control of the stations, mutants rip lone wanderers to shreds, and an army of the undead from the north threaten complete annihilation.

Metro 2033

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In the first entry of the series you play as Artyom. Your home station of Exhibition is threatened by undead Dark Ones so you set off, on the orders of a ranger named Hunter to find a way to save your station and possibly the entire Metro. Along the way you'll meet a host of characters and shoot/sneak/stab your way through a horde of adversaries as you learn more about the nature of The Dark Ones and Artyom's strange connection to them and the Metro.

Metro 2033 is a uniquely Soviet game, coming to us from former STALKER developers 4A games in the Ukraine. It's a shooter with hardly any shooting, with a larger focus on storytelling and world building. The latter is particularly well done, as the world of 2033 is probably one of the most fully realized I've ever seen. Everything looks unique, and it's rare that you see an asset reused in the same way more then once. It's a world that bleeds atmosphere, brought to life by it's lighting and level design.

The level design does a wonderful job of telling stories of it's own. Each station looks and feels different, whether it's the ramshackle military base of Exhibition, the merchant machine shop of the Armory, or the shining utopia of Polis. There's a wealth of backstory to be gleamed from just taking in the sights and sounds of the station. Hang out and you'll see the denizens of the Metro as they go about their lives and discuss the goings-on of the Metro.

 Even the combat zones tell a story. Sneaking through a Nazi base and you'll hear the soldiers talk about their lives back home. Sneaking through a Communist outpost will reveal a secret tunnel that one soldier was hiding. There are a million stories told by the debris and corpses left in various unoccupied parts of the Metro, and part of the fun is piecing together exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, where the atmosphere and level design are standouts for the FPS genre, the gameplay isn't. 2033's gunplay is, at best, wonky. Many of the guns are woefully inaccurate, and lack a punch to them. Even the boisterous shotgun feels like a popgun as you plink away at targets. Even worse is the stealth, which manages to be either completely useless or completely overpowered. There's no middles ground, if the enemies see you, you'll have to wipe them out completely.

This brings me to 2033's worst feature: it's AI. there are only a few enemies in 2033, and all of them are mentally challenged. The humans are probably the best, and they either disregard cover, or stick to it like glue. They're way to accurate and can see you from a mile away if your not careful, but can be instantly killed with a well placed shot or knife. If you take out one enemy, the guy beside him won't even register it, because according to the game you're stealthy. Mutant AI isn't much better, but it's at least passable because all they do is charge at you and try to claw your face off.

Overall, Metro 2033 is a game you play for the experience, rather then then enjoyment. It's an interesting mix of survival horror and stealth shooter, and it's atmosphere and psychedelic story should be enough to at least keep you engaged.

Metro: Last Light

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What's the best way to fix a game? Release a really, REALLY good sequel. It worked for Assasin's Creed, Gears of War, Mass Effect, and now Metro 2033. Despite THQ going bust halfway through development, Last Light was released in early 2013, and finally we got to experience what 2033 should have been. 

Everything in Last Light is better, there is no argument. The shooting is more precise and weapons have noticeable punch to them. Stealth is vastly improved, requiring actual skill, and evasion during combat is now possible too. The AI of both man and animal are better, with humans now using cover and communicating, while different mutant types have different attack patterns. Even the graphics are better, especially impressive since 2033 was considered one of the best looking games available. There is no doubt in my mind that Last Light is one of the best looking games of last generation, and still remains a visually fantastic game.

Last Light takes place a year after 2033, with Artyom now a full fledged Metro Ranger, charged with keeping the metro safe from anything that would do her harm. The rangers have learned that a single Dark One still lives, despite laying the nuclear smack down on them, and tasks Artyom with killing it. Things quickly go wrong, and Artyom ends up getting caught in a mounting civil war that threatens to tear the Metro apart. The story is a little clearer this time around, taking time to develop characters, and you constantly have a good idea of what's going on. You'll constantly know who you're fighting and why, which is especially good since the politics of the Metro can be as grey as it's walls.

There's a tonal shift in Last Light from the psychological horror of 2033. Along with the re-tooled shooting and stealth, there's now a larger focus of stealth action. Human encounters are now fun and exciting, rather then painful annoyances, and finding your way through them is a pleasure. There's a larger variety of weapons this time around, and more attachments allowing you to kit yourself out the way you want. Rest assured, there is horrors to behold, but they're more spaced out in exchange for tangible horrors.

Last Light is an awesome sequel and a great game on it's own. It's unfortunate that the lauded Ranger Mode is locked behind a paywall, but there's more then enough fun to be found in the vanilla experience.

Redux

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In 2014 the Metro series got the Next Gen treatment, re-released with the new moniker of Redux. Both games have updated graphics, and both games now come with all the DLC, and they come bundled together for one great package.

Of the two, 2033 Redux is definitely the better deal. The game looks great, having been completely remade in Last Light's graphics engine. Particularly the top side sections in Moscow look fantastic, with realistic snow to replace the weird white clay of the original. Lighting has been overhauled, as has the shooting and stealth mechanics, and all of the AI are improved as well. Levels are now grouped together, reducing the amount of load screens, and certain less desirable sections have been either removed or rebalanced.

Last Light, on the other hand, is less of a deal, especially for PC. You can't make an HD version of an already HD game, and there's little in the way of visual enhancement. Since many of the Redux gameplay enhancements were taken from Last Light, there's no change here either. At best, Last Light Redux is a sort of golden version of the game, packaging all the DLC together. It's a good game for the next gen consoles, but for owners of the original game on PC, don't bother, even the Devs imply as much..

Side note, the vanilla version of Last Light isn't even available for purchase any more on Steam, however the vanilla version of 2033 is. Strange.

The Metro series represent a lot of why I love games from outside the US. They're attention to detail and storytelling through world building really put Western shooters to shame, and their unique mix of survival horror and first person action are a welcome change in the desert that is FPS games. They may not be for everyone, but if your looking for something outside the norm when it comes to shooters, there's plenty to see down in the Metro.